Veloz, Celia

Celia Veloz was born in Mata Ortiz in 1982. After watching her parents, Armida Saenz and Saul Veloz, since she was a toddler, she began making small pots when she was 9.

Working for years with her long-time partner (now husband) José Luis Perez, Celia Veloz is well-known for animal designs, free-flowing lines and geometric patterns. Their jars are of various shapes and sizes, always beautifully made.

Her painting is bold with black and red on white clay, red on white clay and white on brown clay. More recently Celia has been using multiple colors of clay and incorporating more animals into her designs.

Celia’s shapes and patterns are in a similar vein to the Quezada style where the empty space between design elements is part of the overall design.

Celia earned the First Place ribbon in her class at the 2006 Concurso Ceramica de Mata Ortiz and has been regularly earning awards for her creations since. In 2017 she earned the Second Place prize in the New Properties category. In 2019 she earned a Second Place ribbon for a traditional color pot, with or without design. In 2020 she earned the Third Place ribbon in the New Properties category.

Celia’s husband helps her by cleaning, polishing, painting fill-in areas and firing the pots. He also makes and paints his own pots. Their son Carlitos has been painting pottery since he was 8.